Paris knock out Brest to book their place in the quarters!

Tonight, less than two weeks after their lively league encounter with each other, Les Parisiens were once again facing this season's overperformers, Stade Brestois 29, in a particularly exciting cup fixture. For the occasion, Luis Enrique was delighted to bring players including Bradley Barcola, Achraf Hakimi and Ousmane Dembélé back into his starting XI.

Although the nature of do-or-die cup games differs to that of league encounters, Les Rouge et Bleu were well aware that Les Brestois wouldn't make things a walk in the park for them, and there was a real power struggle at every level, be it technically, tactically, physically and mentally. Incidentally, both teams wasted little time in showing that they intended to do damage in whatever ways they could. The Breton side, who were as uninhibited as ever, looked to take control of the pitch but certainly didn't try to park the bus in doing so, making plenty of forward runs whenever they won the ball and giving the Parc des Princes crowd a fright on more than one occasion, as exemplified by Martín Satriano's lethal shot that crashed against the post in the 28th minute or by the ever-alert Gigio Donnarumma's reflex stop a minute later. At this point, it was clear that Paris would have to sit back, weather the storm and then make hay while the sun shone later on.

However, Les Parisiens didn't stray far from their guiding principle of being proactive on the ball in order to take control of games, and this was reflected in an intense first half that was characterised by some good attacking intent from the capital club's players – including pacy runs down the wing by the mazy Barcola and by the unplayable Kylian Mbappé – as well as the electricity that was in the air between two sides galvanised by what was at stake in such a historic competition. Despite Brest enjoying some chances, a sharp Paris Saint-Germain constantly looked threatening in what was an enjoyable and end-to-end affair, and it was a lightning bolt from Mbappé that eventually gave them the lead, as the striker found the back of the net with a shot across goal at high speed (1-0, 34').

Paris then immediately rammed home their momentum with a second goal, as just three minutes later and after another bit of brilliance, Dembélé delivered an inch-perfect cross to Danilo Pereira, who gladly took up the opportunity to poke the ball home (2-0, 37'). Seemingly at the centre of all of Paris's good play, the no. 10 thrilled the fans once again when his cross-come-shot shaved the right-hand post in the opening minute of first-half stoppage time.

As we know all too well, though, a 2-0 lead is never a guarantee of anything against the ever-attacking Brestois, as proven by the Steve Mounié header that reduced the deficit for Brest just as Paris were raising the tempo (2-1, 65'). This was frustrating for Les Parisiens, of course, but not enough to drive them to despair, as Luis Enrique's men then redoubled their efforts, particularly when their opponents were reduced to ten men after Lilian Brassier's justified sending-off for a poor foul on Mbappé. At this point, the coach brought Marco Asensio and Gonçalo Ramos onto the field, and the pair didn't take long to bring things to a head. In fact, it was the latter who sealed the win for his side thanks to a training-ground move that was started by the truly effervescent Mbappé (3-1, 90'+1).

In what was yet another highly instructive game, Les Parisiens got this crucial week of theirs off to a perfect start. Having made it through to the Coupe de France quarter-finals, Luis Enrique's men can now eagerly look ahead to what awaits them on other fronts, including a clash with Lille in Ligue 1 this Saturday before the first leg of their UEFA Champions League last-16 tie against Real Sociedad. So, let's just say that our exceptional fans will have plenty more reasons to get excited at the Parc des Princes this season...